August is here. The last stretches of summer lie before us, and there is a sense that things have started to shift. There is still plenty of warm days left, but the understanding that this won’t last forever is beginning to sink in. This is undeniably an unorthodox summer, but despite the COVID pandemic, there are certain elements of life that are continuing forward as usual. Two of these being plants and the weather. The thunderstorms of July brought a reprieve from the heat of summer, but as these start to wane, we need to start thinking about how we should best care for our gardens through the heat. Specifically, how do we water them so they get what they need, and we don’t waste any water.
Watering our gardens seems like one of the most straightforward chores for our garden, but when we are trying to conserve and make the most out of what water we put into the garden there are some simple techniques that we should follow to ensure that our garden is getting what it needs.
The first thing we should think about is when are we watering? The time of day that you water can make a big difference in the effectiveness of our water. When we are watering our garden we want to avoid evaporation as much as possible. Evaporation is lost water that could have been drunken up by our plants, so we want to avoid it as much as possible. Because of this, we want to avoid watering in the middle of the day, when the sun is out and it is hottest. The best time to water would be in the early morning as the sun is coming up. This way the water can soak into the soil before things get hot, and the plants will have access to it all day. And besides, a cup of coffee and watering the garden is a great way to start the day.
If your schedule prohibits you from doing early morning watering, or your just not really a morning person, the second best time of day for watering your garden is in the early evening, when things are just starting to cool off a little bit, but there is still plenty of day light left. If you can’t do either of these, then evening is your next best time. You just want to make sure that you are not watering during the night. Although this seems like it would be a great time, since you could avoid the heat of the day and the evaporation of the sun, there are risks to watering at night. Although we want to avoid evaporation, we also want to avoid standing water. Stagnate water sitting on a plants foliage all night can be an open door for harmful bacteria, and fungi to infect the plant. The same stands true for water sitting on the soil. It can leave the stem and roots of the plants vulnerable to infections. When you water is not the only factor that can make a difference in how efficient your watering is.
Where to water your garden:
I feel this goes without saying, but the most efficient way to use your water is to water only where it is needed. With our plants that is on their roots. Now it is true that plants can take up water through the stoma on their leaves, but this is such a small amount of water and it is not worth the waste that we get from the evaporation. Following this idea, we should try to avoid overhead watering, but instead opt for targeted watering at the base of the plant. This can be best achieved with drip tape, or a soaker hose, since these methods distribute the water right at the base of the plants.
Knowing the water needs of your plants will also be helpful with understanding when to water your plants as well as how much water they need. Beyond the basics of understanding low water plants such as Swiss chard or Asparagus, knowing when in their lifecycle they need more water will help with being more efficient with your watering. Though this is different for every plant, a basic rule of thumb that can be followed is that whenever the part of the plant that you are looking to harvest is growing, it will probably benefit from a boost in watering. Tomatoes when they are fruiting out, broccoli when it begins to flower, and carrots when they are rooting out. This will help the plants with their growth during this time, and help with giving you a more bountiful harvest.
Frequency of watering:
How often, and how long we water will also affect how efficient our watering is. Longer watering periods with less water will be more efficient than a shorter time period with a lot of water. This is because of soils hydrophobic nature. I am sure that we have all experienced this, when trying to water a dry plant, and the water just keeps beading, and running off of the dry soil. This is why smaller amounts of water over a longer time is a more efficient way to get the water to actually soak down into the roots, where it is needed.
A simple way to check to make sure that moisture is actually penetrating into your soil is to stick a finger into the soil and feel how far down the moisture goes. This will help to give you a feel for how effective your watering is. Getting the water into the soil is only half of the battle, once it is saturated, we need to keep the water in the soil.
Keeping the water in your soil:
There is a couple of techniques for retaining water in your garden, and fortunately they all have other benefits for your garden as well. The easiest way to keep water in your soil is to apply mulch to the top of your garden. Applying at least an inch of mulch over your garden will help stop the moisture from evaporating off of the soil. When it comes to mulch, your options are pretty open. Wood-chips, straw, cardboard, fallen leaves and yard trimmings all make good mulch. But mulch is not the only organic matter that will help your soil retain water. Having a good mix of organic matter in your soil in the form of compost will help your soil retain water. This is because moisture evaporates out of dirt easier if there is no organic matter for it to soak into. This also has the benefit of ensuring that your plants are getting the nutrients that they need.
The summer heat is an amazing time for rapid growth in our gardens and is also a nice reprieve from the cold we experience in the valley for most of the year. However, it doesn’t come without it’s challenges. But this shouldn’t be a problem for you if you,
1) make sure to water in the early morning or evening when the water won’t evaporate off to quickly,
2) water strategically at the base of the plant where it is needed,
3) water in longer time intervals with lower intensity so that the water really gets to soak into the soil and not run off, and
4) make sure that there is plenty of organic matter in your soil and mulch on top of your soil so that once the moisture is in there, it doesn’t evaporate off.
If you follow all of these steps, then you should be able to make much more efficient use of your water for the rest of the summer.